Cakewalk

ENGLAND charged to a crushing victory in the deciding Twenty20 international
and secured the first trophy of their New Zealand tour.

Openers Alex Hales and Michael Lumb were in such a rush that England
overhauled their target of 140 with an incredible 7.2 overs to spare and
without losing a wicket.

Hales plundered 80 from 42 balls while Lumb hammered his way to 53 not out
from 34 deliveries.

The pair hit nine sixes between them.

The batsmen completely who gorged themselves at a stadium in New Zealand’s
capital known as the Cake Tin.

It was the third one-sided result of the series but this was the biggest
beasting of the lot.

Lumb finished the job with a truly monstrous legside swipe for six off fast
bowler Ian Butler, whose figures were 2.4-0-41-0  just three days
after he bowled four overs for just nine runs in the second match of the
series.

Stuart Broad and Steven Finn set up the win by bowling with hostility,
accuracy and skill during New Zealand’s innings.

Broad took 3-15 in his four overs while Finn’s figures were 0-18.

He did not bowl off the shortened run he is planning to use in order to kick
his habit of knocking the stumps at the umpire’s end.

None of the Kiwi batsmen looked comfortable in the face of such aggression
and, even though opener Martin Guptill made a half-century, it took him 50
deliveries to reach the milestone.

England’s catching was near-exemplary, with Jonny Bairstow holding a couple in
the deep including to remove the dangerous Brendon McCullum that soared at
least 50 yards into the air.

Teams bowling first have a 100 per cent record of winning at the Cake Tin in
T20 internationals and, while skipper Broad admitted he boobed by inserting
in Hamilton on Tuesday, he made absolutely the correct decision at the toss
here.

Hales was dropped a couple of times but soon he and Lumb were tearing into the
Kiwi bowlers.

The six-over power play yielded 60 runs  and that included a maiden
over by left-armer Mitchell McClenaghan.

Then Hales deposited the first ball of the seventh over into the crowd as well.

Lumb was also spilled by Brendon McCullum standing up to his spin bowling
brother Nathan.

It was clear everything was surging England’s way.

McClenaghan was not so fortunate when he returned for his second spell as
Hales hit him for six, four, six and six off successive balls.